Sunday, July 17, 2011

I've upgraded my Pole Aerial Photography rig to include 2 new carbon fiber poles, one 11m and the second 12.5 meter. These poles just arrived from England, where their primary use is for fishing. A fellow Kite Aerial Photographer from England was nice enough to ship them to the US for me, where they are not available. This is a great upgrade from my painters pole, and fiberglass windsurfing mast.

The longer of the 2 poles, the Avanti Oxygen Commercial Carp 12.5m, is basically a 11m pole with one extra piece. The poles separate into 9 sections, with the top most section discarded, as it's too thin. I use my GoPro HD Hero with all but the top section, and my Sony NEX-5 with everything but the top 2 sections.

I used a design I saw replicated a few times on flicker for my GoPro rig. This attaches to the top of the 2nd thinnest section using Aluminum, rubber grommets and the Tripod mount for GoPro. When the 12.5m pole is fully extended, and I'm holding it above my head, I get over 40 feet of height with the camera.

The other pole I purchased was a 11m Ramrod Power Carp, which may not get much use after playing with the 12.5m pole, but with the hassle of ordering and shipping from England, I didn't want to have to buy another one in year...

I created a balsa wood and aluminum rig for my Sony Nex-5 camera, which has more weight than the GoPro, so I designed a super lightweight, but hideous rig, that centers over the top of the 3rd thinnest section of the pole. I plan on using form epoxy to harden the balsa wood to give some strength, but my initial tests the rig performed well.

First time with the new pole, I had to get a self portrait.

Uke's Harley Davidson has a super cool facility that I've wanted to capture from my kite for quite some time, but lies directly in the path of the Kenosha airport, and probably would violate FFA regulations flying that close to the airport. I figured that this was a perfect alternative to capture the building via Pole Aerial Photography, and test out the new rig.

This is a perspective I can guarantee that no one has ever captured. Gives a good sense at the height of the pole.

Thought I would try getting a picture of my house too, fully extended to maximum height. I think that this will be a great addition to the quiver of photography gear, and help lock down some real estate gigs.